The small city of Kent, OH (zip code 44243) has a population of nearly 33,000 people. The community is known for its diversity and strong sense of community, which is reflected in the local politics. Kent is part of the Portage County and its government consists of a mayor-council system. The current mayor is Jerry Fiala who was reelected in 2019. He has served as mayor since 2011 and is committed to maintaining quality services for the whole community while keeping taxes low for its residents. Other members of council include: Dina Fairchild, Michael DeLeone, Greg Benton, Patti Choby, Melissa Longo, Kim Ray, Mike Brown and Dave Kelly. All these individuals are working together to ensure that the Kent remains a vibrant city with a strong sense of community spirit and values.
The political climate in Zip 44243 (Kent, OH) is leaning liberal.
Portage County, OH is somewhat conservative. In Portage County, OH 43.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 55.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Portage county remained strongly Republican, 55.4% to 43.0%.
Portage county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 44243 (Kent, OH) is leaning liberal.
Kent, Ohio is leaning liberal.
Portage County, Ohio is somewhat conservative.
Akron Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Ohio is leaning conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Kent, Ohio: d d d d r R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 44243 (Kent)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3 contributions totaling $0 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $0 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 0 contributions totaling $0 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $0 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)